Next story in Death of bin Laden

Video: Posthumous bin Laden message aired

Closed captioning of: Posthumous bin Laden message aired

>>>u.s. intelligence
officials are poring over what was likely
osama bin laden
's final
message to the world
. it was released by
al qaeda
overnight. nbc's chief foreign correspondent
richard engel
is in cairo with details. richard, good morning.

>> reporter: good morning, matt. it was an
audio recording
released by
al qaeda
's official media wing and it appears to be fairly recent and may have been made even as the cia was watching
bin laden
's compound. it could be the last message
osama bin laden
made before he was killed by
u.s. navy
s.e.a.l.s. in the audiotape presumably recorded in pakistan,
bin laden
hails this year's revolts that toppled regimes in egypt and threatened million dollarset east leaders from libya to yemen. we watched this historical event and share in your delight. congratulations on your victories that was apparently
osama bin laden
's.
osama bin laden
may have been trying to jump on the bandwagon of the popular revolutions and make himself more relevant.
al qaeda
had no part in the
arab revolt
which had been largely secular. in the audiotape
bin laden
encourages muslims to transform their street protests into an
islamic revolution
. there was a great rare and historic opportunity to raise the
muslim world
and be lip rated from enslavement to the wishes of rulers and manmade law in the western domination, he said. take advantage of it and destroy the idols and statues and establish justice and faith but the arab leaders are showing little interest. the audiotape was broadcast on
al jazeera
, but only
20 minutes
into its programming. the news wasn't followed by analysts or guests. for most people in the
middle east
,
bin laden
missed the revolutions, which made his strategy and message of political change through terrorism increasingly irrelevant. most people in this part of the world, matt, slim don't want
bin laden
to be associated in any way with the ongoing revolutions. matt?

With al-Qaida's supreme leader killed, the terrorist group is seeking its next leader.

Replacing Osama bin Laden, who founded the network more than two decades ago and masterminded the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, is no easy task.

Following are top candidates for the world's top terrorism job.

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/
AFP - Getty Images file

Ayman al Zawahiri.

Name: Ayman al Zawahiri
Age: 59
Country of origin: Egypt
Reward: $25 million
No. 2: He is the longtime second in command to bin Laden. Many in the counterterrorism community say they were surprised that Zawahiri was not named leader soon after bin Laden was killed May 2 and every day he isn’t lessens the chances he will succeed to the top position.

A pediatrician who was jailed and tortured in Egypt in the roundup following the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1981, Zawahiri is seen as prickly, arrogant and pedantic by many in al-Qaida. He is also Egyptian, and that is not a positive in an organization dominated by Gulf Arabs. By his own count, he has been targeted by the Americans for attacks six times. They came closest in Domodola, Pakistan, in early 2006.

Name: Abu Yahya al Libi
Age: 47
Country of origin: Libya
Reward: $1 million
Hardliner: The leading propagandist of al-Qaida, he is the most charismatic leader in the terrorist group. Although he has no operational position, his videos have outnumbered those of both bin Laden and Zawahiri. He has a great deal of “street cred,” according to one U.S. official, because he fought against the U.S. in Afghanistan. He was captured and then escaped from Bagram prison in July 2005.

Al Libi is one of a number of Libyans who have risen in al-Qaida ranks over the past decade. Abu Faraj al Libi was the organization’s No. 3 until he was captured, and Abu Laith al-Libi was the No. 4 until he was killed in a Predator strike in 2008. Another Libyan, Abu Gaith al Libi served as bin Laden’s press spokesman after Sept. 11. He is believed to have died.

Saeed Khan
/
AFP - Getty Images file

Ilyas Kashmiri, commander-in-chief of the Kashmiri militant group Harakat-ul Jihad-i-Islami.

Name: Ilyas Kashmiri
Age: 46
Country of origin: Pakistani
Reward: $5 million
Rising star: Kashmiri has risen quickly in the al-Qaida hierarchy. He has his own terrorist group, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, which operates in Indian-held Kashmir. More importantly, he is known to have been invited to high-level al-Qaida councils in North Waziristan. There were reports in the Pakistani media that he’d been killed in September 2009 in a Predator strike, but those turned out to be false.

Kashmiri was reportedly killed in a drone strike on June 4, Pakistani officials say.

Kashmiri was indicted along with Pakistani-American David Headley, in October 2009, on two counts, for "conspiracy to murder and maim in Denmark" (against the newspaper Jyllands-Posten) and "conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism in Denmark."

AFP - Getty Images

Anwar al-Awlaki.

Name: Anwar al Awlaki
Age: 40
Country of origin: United States, leader of Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula
Plugged in: Born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, to Yemeni-American parents, al Awlaki speaks perfect English, is a charismatic speaker and is more heavily involved in social media than any of the others. He has reportedly been involved, either directly or as an inspiration, in several AQAP-linked attacks, including Maj. Nidal Hassan’s killing of 15 soldiers at Fort Hood in November 2009, Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalab’s attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253 over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009, and Faisal Shahzad’s attempt to kill and maim hundreds in Times Square in May 2010. He had his own website and Facebook page, which had more than 5,000 “friends” until Facebook shut it down following an NBC News report. He has directed messages at African Americans in recent speeches, comparing anti-Muslim bias to slavery and segregation.

Days after Bin Laden was killed, al Awlaki was the reported target of a Predator strike in Yemen, which killed two other members of his tribe in an SUV. Al Awlaki was not in the vehicle.

Name: Atia Abd al Rahman
Age: Late 30s
Country of origin: Libya
Reward: $1 million
Bin Laden's gatekeeper: A North African, Atia was promoted to No. 3 in 2010 after his predecessor, Sayed Sheikh, was killed in yet another Predator strike.

He was personally close to bin Laden, going back to the late 1980s when he was a teenager fighting against the Soviets. He is known as an explosives expert and Islamic scholar. He retreated with bin Laden to the mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border region in the fall of 2001, according to the FBI.

He was reported killed in a Predator strike — only to show up alive. One stain on his legacy: He was in charge of bin Laden’s couriers.

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/
AFP - Getty Images

Saif al-Adel

Name: Saif al-Adel
Age: 51
Country of origin: Egypt
Up close: As military commander of al-Qaida, al-Adel was part of the al-Qaida Management Council, which bin Laden instructed to go to Iran in November 2001 as Afghanistan collapsed. U.S. officials in the past have told NBC News that al-Adel is in some kind of custody in Iran. Iranian officials went further, saying he and the rest were "in jail." There were reports last year that he had somehow left Iran, but U.S. officials then and now said they cannot confirm that.

Al Jazeera reported this week that al-Adel had been appointed interim leader of al-Qaida.

An aerial view shows the residential area of Abbottabad, Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden was found and killed by U.S. commandos.
(Asif Hassan / AFP - Getty Images)
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A general view of the town of Abbottabad, May 6. Bin Laden was living in a large house close to a military academy in this garrison town, a two-and-a-half hour-drive from the capital, Islamabad.
(Khaqan Khawer / EPA)
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Supporters of Pakistani religious party Jamaat-e-Islami rally to condemn the killing of bin Laden, in Abbottabad on May 6.
(Aqeel Ahmed / AP)
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A Pakistani woman photographs her daughter on May , at a gate of the compound where bin Laden was caught and killed.
(Aqeel Ahmed / AP)
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School girls pass by armed Pakistani policemen guarding the sealed entrance to the compound in Abbottabad, May 5, in which bin Laden had been living.
(MD Nadeem / EPA)
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A Pakistani police officer gestures at a checkpoint along a road leading to a house where bin Laden was captured and killed in Abbottabad. Area residents were still confused and suspicious about bin Laden's death, which took place before dawn on Monday.
(Anjum Naveed / AP)
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Part of a damaged U.S. MH-60 helicopter lies the compound. The helicopter was destroyed by U.S. forces after a mechanical failure left it unable to take off.
(Reuters)
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A still image from video obtained by ABC News shows blood stains in the interior of the house where bin Laden was killed.
(ABC News via Reuters)
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Aerial views released by the Department of Defense show the area in Abbottabad in 2004, left, before the house was built, and in 2011, right.
(Department of Defense via Reuters)
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Boys collect pieces of metal from a wheat field outside bin Laden's house, seen in the background, on May 3. People showed off small parts of what appeared to be a U.S. helicopter that the U.S. says malfunctioned and was blown up by the American team as it retreated.
(Anjum Naveed / AP)
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An image from video seized from the walled compound of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, and released by the U.S. Department of Defense, shows Osama bin Laden watching TV. He is said to have spent his last weeks in a house divided, amid wives riven by suspicions. On the top floor, sharing his bedroom, was his youngest wife and favorite. The trouble came when his eldest wife showed up and moved into the bedroom on the floor below.
(Department of Defense via AP)
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Editor's note:
This image contains graphic content that some viewers may find disturbing.